集中注意力的技巧

首先，已经开始在考虑有关注意力的问题，就说明已经很好、很不错了。 注意力一般是与兴趣紧密联系的，但另外也有与恐惧等有关。一般对某事有兴趣，注意力自然就集中了。 但为什么有兴趣注意力就容易集中？其实所谓的注意力集中就是能够一直对某事进行关注、观察、分析、思考等。说到底其实并没有注意力集中不集中的问题。因此，只要能做到对某事持续进行关注、观察、分析、思考等，自然就解决了注意力不集中的问题了。要做到对某事持续进行关注、观察、分析、思考等，则可以采取一些办法、技术方法逼迫自己去做到。 如：听老师讲课，你可以通过做笔记的方法，一直跟上老师的讲解。但要注意，所做的笔记并不是对老师讲课的完全记录，而应该记录要点，并且应该是自己总结、理解出的要点，同时还可把自己听课的简单感受、体会记下来，并可对老师的讲解方式、方法进行标注。这样自然而然就能进入到注意力集中的状态了。

健康能够驱动头脑飞转：身体状况决定了专注程度。没人会指望一个醉醺醺的家伙能百分百地投入工作。长期睡眠不足；过度使用兴奋药物（比如咖啡因）；酽饮浓食；摄入过多能量，这些都会影响你集中注意的能力。请戒绝其中某个不良的生活习惯，保持一个月，看看你的体质是否得到改善，我的个人经验是，只需要改变一丁点儿生活行为，就可以大幅提高专心能力

方法一：自我暗示法 自我暗示有助于集中注意力，克服注意力涣散的现象。如学习时用自言自语的方式提醒自己，如“集中注意力”、“努力听讲”等句子，然后把它们放到你平时容易看见的地方，只要一看到它们，就会提醒自己：“别走神儿呀！” 方法二：情境想象法 无论多么爱走神儿的学生，当参加重要的考试或竞赛时，他也会尽可能地集中注意力作答、发挥出最佳水平。因此，请你每次做作业时想象自己是在参加某次大考或竞赛，要在规定的时间内做完，提高单位时间内的效率，这样可以使自己紧张起来，注意力就自然集中了。 方法三：记录法 给自己准备一个小本子，专门用来记录走神儿的内容。比如，今天数学课中你想踢足球来着，那么就要在本子上做记录：“数学课——踢足球——约一分半钟”。这样记录几天以后，你从头至尾认真看一遍，你会发现自己胡思乱想的东西是多么无聊，浪费了多么宝贵的时光。渐渐地，你会对走神儿越来越厌恶。 方法五：自我奖惩法 在你每次写作业或复习功课之前，先给自己定一个时间表，越具体越好。如果在规定时间完成了学习计划，那么就可以奖励一下自己：看会儿动漫或吃零食；相反，如果由于分神而使计划落空，那你就该毫不留情地惩罚自己做不愿做的事，如干杂活等。

杜绝干扰：周遭的干扰足以让你在工作中心神不宁。一直开着的即时通讯软件、Email信箱等等都是随时打断你工作的干扰源，你需要杜绝它们。一般进入专注状态需要15分钟时间，如果每5分钟就要被打断一次，你又如何能够聚精会神？所以，专门划出时间来工作，拔掉你的网线或者关掉即使通讯软件，告诉别人你正在工作请勿打搅。 安排合适的工作场合：工作环境对你能否专注工作有很大的影响。 明确目标和弄清任务要求：在工作开始前应该清楚目标和要求，如果你连工作需要完成什么、需要达到什么要求都不知道，其后果是可以想像的——常常导致部分工作的返工、引起无规则行事的混乱局面、工作流程无法顺畅执行，这些停断也会使你无法专注。最后，一天的工作却一事无成。 理出头绪：清空你的大脑，脑中堆着一大摞任务只会让你难以全神贯注。在工作开始前，明确目标的同时，也花上几分钟为所有零碎的任务理出头绪分清秩序，否则你只会在工作中浪费时间去处理所有这些任务带来的混乱和冲突了。 指定时限：限时完成任务对于工作专注度的影响有好有坏。一个存在于意识中的时限能使你忘记琐碎的小事从而提升你的工作速度。时限也会令你陷入无法按时完成工作的焦虑而难以专心于手头实际的工作，所以我建议只在这些情况下为自己

设定时限： 任务时间有限。如果你需要在一天内完成一个可能花费几周时间的工作，就该为任务划分成块，分别设定时限，如此才能保证在短时间内完成任务的重要部分。 当你遇上那些非常容易扩展伸延的任务。如果你的任务很容易延伸扩展出其他的要求并不断产生子任务，时限可以使你更好地控制进度而不至于东奔西走陷入混乱。 避免拖延和耽搁。当你担心自己的困怠是否会耽误任务进度时，设定一个时限就是为自己安排了一个监工。 清除障碍：工作中遇到棘手的问题，当你思路受阻时必定会心烦意乱难以专注。这时你就需要来场Brain Storming，写下思路能保持你依然集中精神。 隔离自己：除非需要团队合作，那么就在工作时做个隐士，在闹哄哄的工作环境中隔离自己，构筑一个私人空间，必要时给门贴上“工作中，拒绝打扰”的标识，拔掉电话线，直到工作完成再去与人闲聊攀谈。构建这样的工作环境才能使你更好地专注于工作。

方法之五：善于排除内心的干扰 在这里要排除的不是环境的干扰，而是内心的干扰。环境可能很安静，在课堂上，周围的同学都坐得很好，但是，自己内心可能有一种骚动，有一种干扰自己的情绪活动，有一种与这个学习不相关的兴奋。对各种各样的情绪活动，要善于将它们放下来，予以排除。这时候，同学们要学会将自己的身体坐端正，将身体放松下来，将整个面部表情放松下来，也就是将内心各种情绪的干扰随同这个身体的放松都放到一边。常常内心的干扰比环境的干扰更严重。 同学们可以想一下，在课堂上，为什么有的同学能够始终注意力集中呢？为什么有的同学注意力不能集中呢？除了有没有学习的目标、兴趣和自信之外，还有一个就是善于不善于排除自己内心的干扰。有的时候并不是周围的同学在骚扰你，而是你自己心头有各种各样浮光掠影的东西。要去除它们，这个能力是要训练的。如果你就是想浑浑噩噩、糊糊涂涂、庸庸俗俗过一生，乃至到了三十岁还要靠父母养活，或者你就是想混世一生，那你可以不训练这个。但是，如果你确实想做一个自己也很满意的现代人，就要具备这种事到临头能够集中自己注意力的素质和能力，善于在各种环境中不但能够排除环境的干扰，同时能够排除自己内心的干扰。

方法之六：节奏分明的处理学习与休息的关系 同学们千万不要这样学习：我这一天就是复习功课，然后，从早晨开始就好像在复习功课，书一直在手边，但是效率很低，同时一会儿干干这个，一会儿干干那个。十二个小时就这样过去了，休息也没有休息好，玩也没玩好，学习也没有什么成效。或者，你一大早到公园念外语，坐了一个小时或两个小时，散散漫漫，说念也念了，说不念也跟没念差不多，没有记住多少东西。这叫学习和休息、劳和逸的节奏不分明。正确的态度是要分明。那就是我从现在开始，集中一小时的精力，比如背诵80个英语单词，看我能不能背诵下来。高度地集中注意力，尝试着一定把这些单词记下来。学习完了，再休息，再玩耍。当需要再次进入学习的时候，又能高度集中注意力。这叫张弛有道。一定要训练这个能力。永远不要熬时间，永远不要折磨自己。一定要善于在短时间内一下把注意力集中，高效率地学习。要这样训练自己：安静的时候，像一棵树；行动的时候，像闪电雷霆；休息的时候，流水一样散漫；学习的时候，却像军事上实施进攻一样集中优势兵力。这样的训练才能使自己越来越具备注意力集中的能力。

方法之七：空间清静 这个方法，非常简单，当你在家中复习功课或学习时，要将书桌上与你此时学习内容无关的其他书籍、物品全部清走。在你的视野中，只有你现在要学习的科目。这种空间上的处理，是你训练自己注意力集中的最初阶段的一个必要手段。同学们常常会发现这样生动的场面，你坐在桌子前，想学数学了，这儿有一张报纸，本来是垫在书底下的，上面有些新闻，你止不住就看开了，看了半天，才知道我是来学数学的。一张报纸就把你牵挂走了。或者本来你是要学习的，桌子一角的小电视还开着呢，看着看着，从数学王

国出去了，到了张学友那儿了。这是完全可能的。甚至可能是一个小纸片，上面写着什么字，看着看着又想起一件事情。 所以，作为训练自己注意力的最初阶段，做一件事情之前，首先要清除书桌上全部无关的东西。然后，使自己迅速进入主题。如果你能够做到一分钟之内没有杂念，进入主题，你就了不起。如果你半分钟就能进入主题，就更了不起。如果你一坐在那里，十秒、五秒，当下就进入，那就是天才，那就是效率。有的人说，自己复习功课用了四个小时，其实那四个小时大多数在散漫中、低效率中度过，没有用。反之，你开始学习，一坐在那里，与此无关的全部内容置之脑外，这就是高效率。

方法之八：清理大脑 收拾书桌是为了用视野中的清理集中自己的注意力，那么，你同时也可以清理自己的大脑。你经常收拾书桌，慢慢就会有一个形象的类比，觉得自己的大脑也像一个书桌一样。 大脑是一个屏幕，那里面也堆放着很多东西，一上来，将在自己心头此时此刻浮光掠影活动的各种无关的情绪、思绪和信息收掉，在大脑中就留下你现在要进行的科目，就像收拾你的桌子一样。 同学们，这样的训练希望你们从今天开始就要做，它并不困难。当你将思想中的所有杂念都去除的时候，一瞬间你就进入了专一的主题，你的大脑就充分调动起来，你才有才智，你才有发明，你才有创造，你才有观察的能力、记忆的能力、逻辑推理的能力和想象的能力。如果不是这样，你坐在那里，十分钟之内脑袋瓜里还是车水马龙，还是风马牛不相及，还是天南海北，那么这十分钟是被浪费掉的。再有十分钟，不是车水马龙了，但依然是熙熙攘攘的街道，又十分钟过去了。到最后学习开始了，难免三心二意，效率很低。这种状态我们以后不能再要了，要善于迅速进入自己专心的主题。

方法之九：对感官的全部训练 我们讲了清理自己的书桌，其实更广义说，我们可以进行视觉、听觉、感觉方方面面的类似训练。同学们可以训练自己在视觉中一个时间内盯视一个目标，而不被其他的图像所转移。你们可以训练在一段时间内虽然有万千种声音，但是你们集中聆听一种声音。你们也可以在整个世界中只感觉太阳的存在或者只感觉月亮的存在，或者只感觉周围空气的温度。这种感觉上的专心训练是进行注意力训练的有用的技术手段。

其实你可以试试把经历全用在自己最感兴趣的事情上，过一段时间你再作其他事情时也找那种感觉，而且试着对它产生兴趣，慢慢的就会好起来。如果实在不行，你可以去看看心理医生。 还有一种很有效的方法：试着去爱周围的所有人，让他们其中的大部分人都对你有好感，并且很注视你，你便会有一种非常奇妙的感觉，这种感觉会对你在集中精力方面会起很大的作用 其实我以前跟你一样，以上是妈妈告诉我的方法，我也这样做了，效果特明显

我有和你同样的问题因为我以前读初中开始就喜欢边做作业边听音乐边看电视边吃饭我现在强迫自己一段时间只做一件事情即时想起了别的事也强迫自己回到主题一开始可能没办法集中精神日子长了慢慢的也不容易分心了这是我的经历不知道对你有用么呵呵

1、要认识老师讲课的重要性,引起自己的高度重视慢慢激起自己的兴趣.

2、排除干扰不受内外影响。先在没有任何干扰的情况下背诵一段200～400字的文章看需要多少时间，然后在旁边有干扰时背这段文章，看需要多长时间，直到在两种环境中时间相同为止。

3、当你发现思想开小差时，立刻把它叫回来。利用个人意志的力量也能控制自己的注意力。有意识

地控制自己的注意力，不许注意力涣散，开始有点困难，一旦养成习惯，反而感到集中精力干事或学习是件很愉快的事，当你有这种体会时，就说明你的注意力水平提高了。

集中精力的技巧需要通过实践......有经验的人也许只用几分钟到半小时就能进入精力高度集中状态，而且这种状态一口气持续几个小时。正在学习怎样集中精力的人要做到这一点不会这么容易，集中精力的程度达不到达不到这么高，也不能保持长时间。也许他们每隔一个小时就不得不休息一下。如果你感觉身体疲乏，肚子饥饿，双脚发麻，眼睛困倦等等，就到外面去散散步，呼吸点新鲜空气。但是，休息时间不宜过长，否则，待到再回来学习时，你又将不得不重新集中精力。 当你学会了如何集中精力以后，你就会发现你的学习兴趣在不断增加，精力集中保持的实践在不断延长。为使这种时间保持得更长一些，你还可以强迫自己在两次休息之间在而外再增加额外的五分钟学习时间。久而久之，你就能把自己锻炼成一个好的精力集中者，因而成为一个学习兴趣更浓，学习自觉性更强的学习者了，你的学习效益也肯定会自然而然地得到提高。 集中精力的艺术也许是你能获得的最有价值的技能了......! 保持良好的注意力，是大脑进行感知、记忆、思维等认识活动的基本条件。在我们的学习过程中，注意力是打开我们心灵的门户，而且是唯一的门户。门开得越大，我们学到的东西就越多。而一旦注意力涣散了或无法集中，心灵的门户就关闭了，一切有用的知识信息都无法进入。正因为如此，法国生物学家乔治.居维叶说：“天才，首先是注意力。”

Self-help

Concentration

Concentration has been defined as "the ability to direct one's thinking in whatever direction one would intend".

We all have the ability to concentrate some of the time. But at other times our thoughts are scattered, and our minds race from one thing to another. To deal with such times, we need to learn and practice concentration skills and strategies. To concentrate, we have to learn a skill, and as with any skill this means practice repeated day after day until we achieve enough improvement to feel that we can concentrate when we need to.

Our ability to concentrate depends on

?commitment

?enthusiasm for the task

?skill at doing the task

?our emotional and physical state

?our psychological state

?our environment

Commitment

We need to make a personal commitment to put in the effort needed to do the task in the way

which we realistically plan to do it. If we just play at it in a half-hearted manner then it is much more difficult to take the task and ourselves seriously.

Enthusiasm

If we are interested in the task and enjoy doing it, then we find it easy to motivate ourselves to start. Once started, our feelings of involvement in the activity keep us going - we want to do it.

Skill

Knowing how to do something gives confidence that our efforts will be successful, so we don't have to deal with anxiety about will this work or not. Anxiety tends to impair concentration.

Our emotional & physical state

When we are in good physical condition - i.e. feeling rested, relaxed and comfortable - and our emotions are calm and benevolent, then we tend to be positive about things. This in turn raises self-esteem, which makes us more able to concentrate, if only because we don't have to worry about how awful we are or life is.

Our psychological state

For example, if we are in an obsessional or distracted state our thoughts are pre-occupied, leaving little mental space to think about anything else.

Environment

It is much more difficult to concentrate if our surroundings keep intruding on our awareness, perhaps because it is noisy, too hot or too cold, the furniture is uncomfortable or the people around us are stressing out.

Expanding your concentration span

People sometimes refer to a concentration span : this is the time we can concentrate on a specific task before our thoughts wander. In learning concentration skills, we aim to extend our concentration span - bearing in mind that we will have a different span for different tasks. It cannot be expanded to infinity! Most people find their level for most tasks round about an hour, but for some people and some tasks it will just be a few minutes, while for others it might be two or three hours.

The main barriers to concentrating are boredom, anxiety and day-dreaming. Thus in improving our concentration skills we need to counteract these barriers. The following three skills are basic to concentration: if you want to improve your concentration, start by practising them. They will be followed by further strategies which will allow you to build onto the basic skills.

1. STOP!!!

This sounds very simple, but it works. When you notice your thoughts wandering, say to yourself STOP and then gently bring your attention back to where you want it to be. Each time it wanders bring it back. To begin with, this could be several times a minute. But each time, say STOP and then re-focus. Don't waste energy trying to keep thoughts out of your mind (forbidden thoughts attract like a magnet!), just put the effort into STOP and re-focus.

To begin with you will do this hundreds of times a week. But you will find that the period of time

between your straying thoughts gets a little longer each day, so be patient and keep at it.

2. Attending

This is about maintaining concentration and not giving in to distractions. It could be described as a sort of tunnel-vision, or as being focused: you keep your concentration on what is in front of you. If you are distracted, use the STOP technique to regain concentration. You can practice attending in many situations:

?eg. in a lecture, if people move or cough, ignore them, don't look at them, actively exclude them from the link or tunnel formed between you and the lecturer.

?eg. in a social situation, keep your attention solely on one person - what they say, how they look etc. - and ignore what is going on round about.

3. Worry time

Set aside one or more specific periods in the day when you are allowed to worry. It can help to set them just before something that you know you will do, to ensure that you stop worrying on time - e.g. before a favourite TV programme, or a meal-time. Whenever an anxiety or distracting thought enters your mind during the day, banish it until your next worry time, and re-focus on to what you are supposed to be doing. Some people find it he lpful to write down the banished thought: it is easier to banish a thought if you are sure you won't have forgotten it when you get to your worry time. It is important that you keep your worry time(s), and make yourself worry for the full time. If you find that you can't fill the time available, then make a conscious decision to reduce it.

You may notice, particularly if you keep a list, that certain things keep reappearing: this is a fairly clear indication that you need to do something about them.

4. Active Learning

Everyone has their own distinct learning style. Some learn by reading and then asking themselves questions, others learn by making condensed notes and memorising them, others learn by the associations they make to the material, and yet others retain a pictorial image of the material. Once you know your learning style, organise the material to suit it: if you don't, learning will be more of a struggle than it need be and your concentration will suffer. Having your own learning style involves having your own internal 'language': briefly, this means the words you use to translate and understand the material so that it has meaning for you. If you don't know how you learn best, try to analyse your experience either with someone who knows how you work, or with someone with expertise in this area.

Other things that can help

?once you know what your concentration span is for a specific activity, decide whether it is acceptable or whether you need to train yourself to expand it - e.g. a listening concentration span of 10 minutes and a lecture of 50 minutes is a mismatch! To expand your concentration span, just try to keep focused for a little longer each time by using STOP! and Attending.

Practice with something that doesn't matter in terms of the task: you could expand your lecture concentration span by practising listening to the news on the radio.

?in between periods of concentration, do things to change your physical and mental

activity. You could move around to boost your circulation if you have been sitting, or you could think about something completely different - and fun - to give your brain a new focus.

?give yourself incentives and rewards appropriate to the level of concentration you have had to maintain. Quite often they can be linked to the things that usually distract you. If you dream of sitting out in the sun when you are in a library trying to study, make your reward a period of sun-worship (with the appropriate sun-screen cream).

?be 'active' in mental activity! Use a hierarchy of questions to help you focus when reading reference material or listening to a lecture, rather than passively reading through it or listening and hoping that something will stick - and then write brief notes about the answers to your questions. Ask yourself how you will use the material, where it fits into what you already know, what new questions it triggers.

?ensure that your environment aids concentration - reduce distractions but don't be so comfortable that you nod off.

?do tasks that need most concentration at times when you are mentally and physically fresh: concentration is harder to maintain when you are tired. This means you need to know the times of day when you work best: people vary as to when is their best time.

?experiment and see whether working with another person helps you keep focused on the task. It can often refresh interest in the subject by sparking off new trains of thought which then re-involve you in the task.

?check if you feel stuck whether the problem is one of poor concentration rather than lack of the necessary knowledge or understanding - and if its the latter, do something about it.

?don't look for an easy answer in stimulants such as caffeine. They only have a short-term effect of making you feel alert, and too much or too long an exposure can have serious effects on your physical and mental health.

Combating specific problems with concentration

1. When you have been concentrating well but your brain now feels saturated.

Take a short break and then recharge your mental batteries by reviewing what you have done so far, considering whether it might help to switch to a new topic now. If you feel too tired to restart after a short break, review what you have done and where it fits into the overall task, and define where you need to pick it up again. If necessary make a note of this. Then decide, before you stop, when you will restart the task.

2. How to concentrate on a topic which you hate or which bores you.

Actively search in the material for aspects of the subject that can be turned into useful information (and might even be interesting!): you could do this by focusing on finding five central, important ideas to think about. Use mind-maps or spider diagrams to record the search, and write test questions to summarise your learning after each study session.

Focus on the personal rewards of completing the topic satisfactorily (even if its only to be rid of the task) and build in treats to reward yourself as you progress through the task. If all else fails, see it as a personal challenge - don't let it beat you.

3. Day-dreaming

Use the STOP! technique and Attending to counteract it. Maybe make being allowed to daydream a reward after a period of concentration.

4. Negative thinking

Loss of concentration can lead to negative thoughts about yourself. Deal with them as with other distractions, and banish them into your Worry Time, when you can check out their reality.

5. Being vague

If you are not quite sure what you are supposed to be doing or why you are doing it then it will be difficult to maintain concentration. You could try to define the task in terms of its content and purpose, and then to make a realistic estimate of how much time and effort will be required to do it.

6. Feeling overwhelmed

Sometimes what we have to do is just too much for us to get our head around. When we think about it, it is too huge a task to contemplate and our feelings of inadequacy take over. Both contribute to losing concentration because it all feels impossible. In such circumstances, look for ways of breaking the task up into smaller discreet parts that feel manageable. Then treat them as individual tasks, summoning up your concentration for each of them separately. It then doesn't need so much effort to fix them all together later on to make a complete whole.

7. Self-doubt

Intellectual activity takes place mainly in the brain and is thus not shared without making a special effort. If we don't discuss what we are doing with others it is very easy to wonder whether what we are doing is OK. This can lead us to feel ineffective and fragile, which in turn can become self-doubt. You need to reduce or banish your doubts if they are not to interfere with concentration. If it isn't possible to discuss what you are doing with others, you could try using the four steps mentioned under Negative Thinking to check out the worth of what you are doing.

If you have concentrated well enough to get this far in this leaflet you are doing OK!

If you want to explore this subject more or seek ideas about other study skills, you could: ?talk to your tutor or Director of Studies

?share ideas with other students

?buy a self-help book (the Open University publish some good guides)

?come to the 'Can't Work Group' for students at the Counselling Service

?University Staff can make an appointment to see a Staff Counsellor